Each week the JME team looks long and hard at the concert calendar to identify the best shows in Jacksonville. Our weekly Go recommendations are updated every Monday morning and are always available on jaxmusic.org. For the comprehensive list of this week’s shows, go to our calendar page. Bedroom Pop Beabadoobee – Tuesday, November 1 Underbelly | Downtown Jacksonville The singer and guitarist, …
The gripping ‘Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues’ confronts the artist’s complexities
Louis Armstrong made his first transatlantic voyage in July of 1932, sailing from New York City to Plymouth, England, aboard the ocean liner RMS Majestic. This was a triumphant visit for Armstrong, whose bravura feats as a trumpeter and rugged ebullience as a singer had already made him a sensation on both sides of the pond. But while the British …
On ‘Blue Rev,’ Alvvays finds euphoria in noise
It takes just six seconds into the first song on its latest album for Alvvays to pull a new trick out of its sleeve. For a moment, “Pharmacist” feels like what it is: a long-awaited reunion with these Canadian noise pop purveyors on their small-town home turf, a few muted synth notes and a preset drum machine tick-tocking while Molly …
Watch | Bad Madonna on the JME Soundstage
Back in September, singer and guitarist Alexis Rhode released Iron Fist, her second EP of 2022 as Bad Madonna. On Fist, Rhode traded the rootsy acoustics of her first five-song collection, Velvet Glove, for grit and distortion, teaming with guitarist Dylan Young and a crack rhythm section — Storm Bauer (bass), Joey French (drums) — to pack Fist with ample …
Go | The Best Concerts in Jax this Week
The Chats, Amos Lee, JD Pinkus and more
Each week the JME team looks long and hard at the concert calendar to identify the best shows in Jacksonville. Our weekly Go recommendations are updated every Monday morning and are always available on jaxmusic.org. For the comprehensive list of this week’s shows, go to our calendar page. Singer-Songwriter Amos Lee – Tuesday, October 25 Florida Theatre | Downtown Jacksonville Fresh off the …
Go | Australian punks The Chats at Underbelly
Even Dave Grohl is a fan!
Quotable Australian punk sensation The Chats are on tour in support of their latest album Get F*cked and are set to stop in Jacksonville on Wednesday, October 26 at Downtown’s Underbelly. Surfacing first from the Sunshine Coast, the band has repurposed their deranged sound in Brisbane, going completely rogue with vicious rebellion by means of gruff vocals and blitzkrieged guitar …
In the haze of ‘Midnights,’ Taylor Swift softens into an expanded sound
Can Taylor Swift soften up? Like many high-achieving workaholics, I imagine she’s lost the instinct and, practical girl, uses enhancements. In the evening, with her lover nearby, does she vape a little Lavender Haze CBD Rosin and focus on the quietude creeping into her body beneath the relentless chatter of her thoughts? Does she grasp his hand and put it …
Staff Picks | PorchFest 2022
What to see and hear at Springfield's annual porch party
Springfield residents love their porches. More than augmentations of their home’s living and entertaining space, the porch is an extension of Springfielders’ personalities. Which is why no event better captures the character and charm of this distinctive Downtown Jacksonville-adjacent neighborhood than the annual Jacksonville PorchFest. Taking place across four square blocks east of N. Main St. between E. 4th St. …
Go | The Best Concerts in Jax this Week
Kevin Morby, Maggie Rose, W.I.T.C.H. and more
Each week the JME team looks long and hard at the concert calendar to identify the best shows in Jacksonville. Our weekly Go recommendations are updated every Monday morning and are always available on jaxmusic.org. For the comprehensive list of this week’s shows, go to our calendar page. Indie-Folk Kevin Morby – Tuesday, October 18 Intuition Ale Works | Downtown Jacksonville Fresh off …
Katie Crutchfield and Jess Williamson Tell Their Truth Plainly
The duo embraces classic country sounds on 'I Walked With You A Ways'
At the heart of I Walked With You A Ways, the debut album from Plains, there’s a sense of freedom. It’s the freedom of driving fast down an enormous, dusty road: “tak[ing] the quickest route on this 4-lane highway,” but also “crying on the highway with my windows down.” It’s the kind of liberation that comes from finding your own …
Go | Kevin Morby at Intuition Ale Works
With a critically acclaimed new album, the popular singer-songwriter makes a stop in Jacksonville
Singer-songwriter Kevin Morby is currently on tour in support of his critically acclaimed new record, This Is A Photograph (out now on Dead Oceans), and will make a pitstop in Jacksonville at the Bier Hall inside Intuition Ale Works’ Downtown taproom on Tuesday, October 18. Before 2014’s critically acclaimed Singing Saw, Morby was already a veteran of the indie music scene. …
Local Spotlight | New Tracks by Jax Artists Out Now
Animal Clinic, Visitation, Crescent and Jay Myztroh
We’re all about music discovery here at the Jacksonville Music Experience. As we unearth new tunes from artists around the globe almost daily, we love to shine the high beams of our Local Spotlight series on the beautiful noise emerging from Northeast Florida. This week, we’ve got four great new tracks by Jacksonville artists. Let’s dig in. “Heart Beats You …
Bob Mould Crams a 40-Year Career of Alternative Noise into a Solo Electric Show
Alt-rock pioneer Bob Mould, who founded both Hüsker Dü and Sugar (among other projects), performs a solo-electric show at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall on Friday, October 14. He recently spoke with First Coast Connect host Melissa Ross about the gig, his 40-year career and his latest work. Listen to the interview below. Bob Mould performs at the Ponte Vedra …
Blink-182 are Getting the Band Back Together with a New Tour
Blink-182, San Diego’s kings of pop-punk, are getting the band back together. Tom DeLonge is rejoining bandmates Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker for the first time in seven years. The band announced via their web site and social media that they would be embarking on a world tour starting in March 2023 are are releasing a new song, “Edging,” on …
Go | The Best Concerts in Jax this Week
Keith Sweat, The Head And The Heart, Jim Lauderdale and more
Each week the JME team looks long and hard at the concert calendar to identify the best shows in Jacksonville. Our weekly Go recommendations are updated every Monday morning and are always available on jaxmusic.org. There’s a handful of legends (Jim Lauderdale, Keith Sweat) on this week’s calendar and more than a few artists you should know about. Here’s the rundown of …
Watch | Ebony Payne-English at Blue Jay Listening Room
Jax multi-disciplinary artist performs “Kuongoza”
I could think of no better venue to feature the music of Ebony Payne-English, than the intimate Blue Jay Listening Room. The depth of the Jax-based rapper-poet-author’s music, after all, requires intentional listening. Stream Ebony Payne-English’s music on your preferred platform Payne-English, fresh off the release of her 2021 full length, Kuongoza, and just months away from releasing another album, …
Mexico’s Son Rompe Pera Bang the Marimba at the Crossroads of Cumbia and Punk
In celebration of Latinx Heritage Month, NPR Music is spotlighting a series of artists across Latin America who are engaging with their musical heritage in unique ways. From reworking conservative genres for new eras, to teasing out modern sounds from old-school instruments, these artists represent the wide range of experimentation that makes up contemporary Latin music. Earlier this year, in …
Local Spotlight | 4 New Songs by Jax Artists Out Now
Tai Boujie is "So Florida." And so are the rest of these Duval artists.
We’re all about music discovery here at the Jacksonville Music Experience. As we unearth new tunes from artists around the globe almost daily, we love to shine the high beams of our Local Spotlight series on the beautiful noise emerging from Northeast Florida. This week, we’ve got four great new tracks by Jacksonville artists. Let’s dig in. “Nature Boy” by …
Fresh Squeeze | The Best New Music of October
Stream & discover something to love
Each month JME contributors pick the juiciest noise emanating from Northeast Florida and beyond for our Fresh Squeeze playlist. Featuring a few dozen new tunes from local, regional, national and international artists, there are no rules or genre restrictions; just songs we thought were worth a share. In recent weeks, icons of independent music Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Built to Spill …
Go | Indie-folk band The Head and the Heart at St. Augustine Amphitheatre
Neo-folk revivalists bring their jangly hits to The Amp in October
Indie folk band The Head and the Heart will visit the St. Augustine Amphitheatre on Thursday, October 13, as part of the group’s first tour in more than two-and-a-half years. A seminal band of the neo-folk revival that was gaining steam in the mid to late aughts, the Seattle-founded group’s eponymous 2010 Sub Pop release remains one of the iconic …
Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ ‘Cool It Down’ is an Exhilarating Yet Unhurried Return
The audacity, to be an artist who waits nearly a decade to release a project — to sit out the conversation that long. The news cycles that whirr by, the social feeds left to rot on the vine. The refusal to chase the currency of constant, insistent relevance. It’s jarring nowadays. And when that artist is, say, a beloved rock …
Go | The Best Concerts in Jax this Week
Victor Wooten, The War On Drugs, Zac Brown Band, Melvins and more
Each week the JME team looks long and hard at the concert calendar to identify the best shows in Jacksonville. Our weekly Go recommendations are updated every Monday morning and are always available on jaxmusic.org. There are a ton of household-name acts visiting the First Coast this week. Here’s the rundown of what JME contributors want to see and hear in and …
Watch | Howdy live in the Studio 4 at WJCT
Beaches-based singer-songwriter performs a couple Gulf-and-Western style ballads
Jacksonville Beach-based singer and guitarist Landon Gay is a true saltwater cowboy. And therein may lie secret to the unique Americana sauce he’s injected into the four singles he’s released under the moniker Howdy, which have collectively racked up more than three-quarters-of-a-million plays on Spotify. Indeed, embedded in Howdy’s lofi, minimalist ballads is a palpable authenticity — in the pace …
Pharoah Sanders, Giant of Spirit-Driven Jazz, Dies at 81
Pharoah Sanders, the revered and influential tenor saxophonist who explored and extended the boundaries of his instrument, notably alongside John Coltrane in the 1960s, died on Saturday morning in Los Angeles. His death was announced in a post on social media by the record label Luaka Bop, which had released his celebrated 2021 album Promises and confirmed by a publicist …
Go | The Best Concerts of the Week in and Around Jax
Jax Symphony returns, Lucius on the Backyard Stage and more
Each week the JME team looks long and hard at the concert calendar to identify the best shows in Jacksonville. Our weekly Go recommendations are updated every Monday morning and are always available on jaxmusic.org. Of note: Sing Out Loud, the month-long St. Augustine-based music festival continues this week. To dig in deeper on this year’s festival, consult our interactive guide to this year’s …
Another Side of Bad Madonna
Jax singer and guitarist Alexis Rhode goes electric on her new EP
As Bad Madonna, singer-songwriter Alexis Rhode encapsulates what it means to be genre-bending, something so many artists tag on to the back of their bios but rarely succeed in achieving. Earlier this year, the Jax-based Rhode released the debut Bad Madonna EP, Velvet Glove, a collection of five songs that sound like country-twanged journal entries. Less than six months later, …
The Uneasy Confessions of Alex G
The devout 'God Save the Animals' distills the songwriter's eccentric style
With over a decade of released music behind him, Alex G has long taken a playfully distorted approach to songwriting, like he’s filtering his music through a funhouse mirror. The 29-year-old artist often addresses or morphs into fictional characters: insecure teenage girls and children with names like Sarah, Alina, Sandy. Flashes of storybook innocence, tales of guarded treehouses and stolen …
How Charley Crockett Makes New Music Sound Old (and Old Music Sound Brand New)
Charley Crockett knows his story seems far-fetched. “People always tell me, ‘Man, you didn’t ride trains — that’s not possible, no one does that anymore,’” he says, sitting at his tour bus’s small table. Crockett is clearly frustrated – the fact that he’s traded train cars for tour buses and street corners for venerable stages that he shares with even …
Go | The Best Concerts in and around Jax this week
St. Aug Songwriters Fest, HC at Underbelly, indie at the Walrus and Shovels & Rope
Each week the JME team looks long and hard at the concert calendar to identify the best shows in Jacksonville. Our weekly Go recommendations are updated every Monday morning and are always available on jaxmusic.org. Of note: Sing Out Loud, the month-long St. Augustine-based music festival that features national headliners and dozens of local performers popping up a local venues around town, …
Marc Bolan and T. Rex Blended the Visionary with the Saccharine
A deep dive into the glam-rock pioneer's varied catalog
There are so many alleged geniuses in music that the field has grown fallow. Marc Bolan wasn’t a genius. But judging by his body of songs, and the overall harvest, he was absolutely guided by a conditional brilliance. Equal parts Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry and John Keats, the late UK glam god seemed to misplace the stolen promethean fire of …
Allison Russell | Tiny Desk Concert
“I am grateful and I am proud for this circle of goddesses,” said Allison Russell during her joyful, rousing Tiny Desk set, reaching toward the six women surrounding her. Russell has cultivated this band’s harmoniousness in the year she’s been touring in support of her astounding, unclassifiable album Outside Child, which tells the singer’s life story, from her childhood escaping …
Watch | Sailor Goon live at Blue Jay Listening Room
Jax singer-songwriter Sailor Goon spins and sings in Jax Beach
With the release of several singles that blend jazz, neo-soul, psychedelia and pop under her alter ego Sailor Goon, Jacksonville vocalist Kayla Le has had our attention for some time now. Indeed, at the beginning of the year we named her one of the 10 Jacksonville artists to watch in 2022. Just a few months after the release of her …
Sudan Archives’ vibrant music of exploration
Sudan Archives’ music celebrates digging. With infectious curiosity, her oddball collages of hip-hop, electronic and globally sourced folk bridge worlds and tramp through them, encouraging you to forge your own routes as well. Across two EPs and an album, the self-taught violinist, producer, and songwriter has honed a distinct blend of layered vocals and instrumentation that both pleases the ear …
Local Spotlight | 4 Great New Tracks from Jax Artists Out Now
Bad Madonna, Bedford Cords, Jacob Hudson and a Kate Bush cover
We’re always keeping our ear to the ground in order to shine the high beams of our Local Spotlight series on Jacksonville regional artists. This week, Jacksonville Music Experience contributors share four new songs by local artists that we think you’ll dig. Let’s dive in. “Jaded” by Bad Madonna As artists attempt to crack the mysterious (arbitrary?) code of streaming-service …
Go | The Best Concerts In and Around Jax this Week
Sing Out Loud continues. Plus Built To Spill, Pup, The Fixx and more!
Each week the JME team looks long and hard at the concert calendar to identify the best shows in Jacksonville. Our weekly Go recommendations are updated every Monday morning and are always available on jaxmusic.org. Of note: Sing Out Loud, the month-long St. Augustine-based music festival that features national headliners and dozens of local performers popping up a local venues around town, …
Jax Resident and Videographer Richard Borders Illuminated the ‘60s Rock Scene and Beyond
The world has grown a little darker with the recent passing of Richard Borders. For more than a half century, the Northeast Florida resident was a proud member (and storied survivor) of the mid-20th-century counterculture. A childhood fan of the phantasmagoric and horror films, Borders was a pioneering artist who worked in the nascent psychedelic light shows of the 1960s, …